So where does this fixed width .ABA file format come from? The Australian Bankers' Association is the national organisation of licensed banks in Australia, ranging from traditional retail, trading bank-style organisations to regional banks, foreign and wholesale banks.
These Banks (including the "Big Four", namely National Australia Bank (NAB), The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC)) reached agreement on a file format for Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT).
I presume for legacy reasons that the chief solutions architects at the banks chose a fixed width file format rather something more advanced like XML with XSD schema definitions (which would allow a simpler process for file format validation and improved readability). I suppose that readability isn't one of the primary goals for these "system generated" files.
Seeing as we are stuck with the format for now, I often have a hard time finding format definition for these files. e.g. the main ABA website doesn't seem to have it documented in any part of their site - http://www.bankers.asn.au/. Instead, for future reference, I've detailed the (.ABA) file format below with a list of the fields and dimensions of these fields:
1. Definitions
Commonly used terms associated with file formatting and their definitions are as follows:
- Left justified - start input in the first character position of that field
- Right justified - end input in the last character position of that field
- Blank filled - fills the unused portion of that field with blank spaces
- Zero filled - fills the unused portion of that field with zeros
- Unsigned - used in amount fields. Amounts will not be specified as debit or credit.
2. Header Record Definition ('0' record) (just the first line):
| Character Position | Field size | Field description | Specification |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Record Type 0 | Must be '0' |
| 2-18 | 17 | Blank | Must be blank filled. |
| 19-20 | 2 | Reel Sequence Number | Must be numeric commencing at 01. Right justified. Zero filled |
| 21-23 | 3 | Name of User's Financial Institution | Must be approved Financial Institution abbreviation. Westpac's abbreviation is "WBC". |
| 24-30 | 7 | Blank | Must be blank filled. |
| 31-56 | 26 | Name of User supplying file | Must be User Preferred Specification as advised in Application. Left justified, blank filled. All coded character set valid. Must not be all blanks. |
| 57-62 | 6 | Number of User supplying file | Must be User Identification Number which is allocated by APCA. Must be numeric, right justified, zero filled. |
| 63-74 | 12 | Description of entries on file e.g. "PAYROLL" | All coded character set valid. Must not be all blanks. Left justified, blank filled. |
| 75-80 | 6 | Date to be processed (i.e. the date transactions are released to all Financial Institutions) | Must be numeric in the format of DDMMYY. Must be a valid date. Zero filled. |
| 81-120 | 40 | Blank | Must be blank filled. |
3. Detail Record ('1' record)
| Character Position | Field size | Field description | Specification |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Record Type 1 | Must be '1' |
| 2-8 | 7 | Bank/State/Branch Number | Must be numeric with a hyphen in character position 5. Character positions 2 and 3 must equal valid Financial Institution number. Character position 4 must equal a valid State number (0-9). |
| 9-17 | 9 | Account number to be credited/debited | Numeric, hyphens and blanks only are valid. Must not contain all blanks or zeros. Leading zeros which are part of a valid account number must be shown, e.g. 00-1234. Westpac recommends that (except in the above example), ALL hyphens are edited out. Where account number exceeds nine characters, edit out hyphens. Right justified, blank filled. |
| 18 | 1 | Indicator | "N" -for new or varied Bank(FI)/State/Branch number or name details, otherwise blank filled. Withholding Tax Indicators: "W" -dividend paid to a resident of a country where a double tax agreement is in force. "X" -dividend paid to a resident of any other country. "Y" -interest paid to all non-residents The amount of withholding tax is to appear in character positions 113-120. Note: Where withholding tax has been deducted the appropriate Indicator as shown above is to be used and will override the normal indicator. |
| 19-20 | 2 | Transaction Code | Must only be valid industry standard trancodes (see list). Only numeric valid. |
| 21-30 | 10 | Amount | Only numeric valid. Must be greater than zero. Shown in cents without punctuations. Right justified, zero filled. Unsigned. |
| 31-62 | 32 | Title of Account to be | All coded character set valid. Must not be all blanks. |
| credited/debited | Left justified, blank filled. Desirable format: - surname (period) blank | ||
| - given names with blank between each name | |||
| 63-80 | 18 | Lodgement Reference | All coded character set valid. Reference as submitted by the User indicating details of the origin of the entry e.g. Payroll number, invoice, contract number. |
| Left justified, blank filled. Must not contain all blanks. | |||
| 81-96 (81-87) | 16 | Trace Record (-BSB Number in format XXX-XXX) | Bank(FI)/State/Branch and account number of User to enable retracing of the entry to its source if necessary. Only numeric and hyphens valid. Character positions 81 & 82 must equal a valid Financial Institution number. Character position 83 must equal a valid State number (0-9). Character position 84 must be a hyphen. |
| (88-96) | 9 | (-Account Number) | Right justified, blank filled. |
| 97-112 | 16 | Name of Remitter | Name of originator of the entry. This may vary from Name of the User. All coded character set valid. Must not contain all blanks. Left justified, blank filled. |
| 113- | 8 | Amount of | Numeric only valid. Show in cents without punctuation. |
| 120 | Withholding Tax | Right justified, zero filled. Unsigned. |
4. File Total Record ‘7’ (Trailer)
| Character Position | Field size | Field description | Specification |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Record Type 7 | Must be '7'. |
| 2-8 | 7 | BSB Format Filler | Must be '999-999'. |
| 9-20 | 12 | Blank | Must be blank filled. |
| 21-30 | 10 | File (User) Net Total Amount | Numeric only valid. Must equal the difference between File Credit & File Debit Total Amounts. Show in cents without punctuation. Right justified, zero filled. Unsigned. |
| 31-40 | 10 | File (User) Credit Total Amount | Numeric only valid. Must equal the accumulated total of credit Detail Record amounts. Show in cents without punctuation. Right justified, zero filled. Unsigned. |
| 41-50 | 10 | File (User) Debit Total Amount | Numeric only valid. Must equal the accumulated total of debit Detail Record amounts. Show in cents without punctuation. Right justified, zero filled. Unsigned. |
| 51-74 | 24 | Blank | Must be blank filled. |
| 75-80 | 6 | File (User) count of Records Type 1 | Numeric only valid. Must equal accumulated number of Record Type 1 items on the file. Right justified, zero filled. |
| 81-120 | 40 | Blank | Must be blank filled. |
5. Direct Entry Transaction Codes
| 13 | Externally initiated debit items |
| 50 | Externally initiated credit items with the exception of those bearing Transaction Codes 51-57 inclusive |
| 51 | Australian Government Security Interest |
| 52 | Family Allowance |
| 53 | Pay |
| 54 | Pension |
| 55 | Allotment |
| 56 | Dividend |
| 57 | Debenture/Note Interest |
